Astros 11, Rockies 2: It’s a historic hit parade for the home team

Share this:

The Astros have spent this tortured season traipsing through baseball gods’-forsaken places they’ve never seen and vow never to visit again.

For a welcome change Friday night, the Astros pulled off a franchise first that wasn’t of the slap-the-forehead-in-despair variety.

The first six Astros hitters banged out hits, sending the home team on its giddy way to an 11-2 laugher over the Colorado Rockies.

The Astros had played 7,965 games leading into Friday night’s onslaught in front of an announced crowd of 22,467. Leave it to the losingest team in franchise history (55-102) to be the first one to start a game with six consecutive hits — a show of support that Astros righthander Brett Myers reciprocated by limiting the Rockies to one run on four hits in six innings.

“This is what you want every game to be like,” said Astros third baseman Chris Johnson, who contributed one of the first-inning hits and made a mark-it-with-an-exclamation-point diving stop in the sixth. “Our starter did well, we hit the ball well, we scored runs. It’s the game you want to play every night.”

With the first four hitters in the order going a combined 9-for-17 with three walks and all nine starters getting at least one hit apiece, the Astros extended the losing streak of the Rockies (70-87) to nine games. Rookies J.B. Shuck and J.D. Martinez had three hits apiece, while veteran Carlos Lee became the ninth player in franchise history to drive in four or more runs in consecutive games.

“That’s pretty exciting,” said Shuck, who scored three runs and had a triple. “When you get six hits in a row, you’re going to score runs. That’s going to start the game off good and get your pitcher to settle down and be able to throw with confidence.”

Everyone in on the act

If the Minute Maid Park roof hadn’t been open at game time, it probably would have caved in on rookie Rockies lefthander Drew Pomeranz. In just 46 pitches spread over two innings, Pomeranz (1-1) inflated his ERA from 1.69 to 5.68.

A five-run first inning began with Shuck flaring a single off the glove of shortstop Tommy Field in shallow left field. Angel Sanchez ended an extra-base hit drought of 106 plate appearances dating back to July 6 with a run-scoring double to left. The hit parade continued with a single to center by Martinez, a two-run double to center by Lee, and a screaming line-drive double off the left-center field wall by Matt Downs.

“You don’t want to make the first out,” Downs said. “You’ve got a lot of pressure on you. It’s one of those things where everybody got a pitch to hit and we took advantage of it.”

The Astros had started a game with five consecutive hits multiple times. The hit they needed to make franchise history came in the form of a run-scoring, line-drive single to left by Johnson.

“Cool,” Johnson said. “Do I get a plaque or something?”

The Astros tacked on one run in the second, two in the fourth, one in the fifth, sixth and seventh. They did all that damage with only one home run — a sixth-inning, solo shot that gave former Rockies shortstop Clint Barmes 12 on the season.

Myers (7-13) knew just what to do with the lead, attacking the strike zone and making the Rockies earn what they got. After an infield single by Eric Young Jr. and a run-scoring double by Dexter Fowler to start the first inning, Myers stopped the Rockies offense dead in its tracks.

Looking within

“I wish I started out this way this year,” Myers said.

Since a losing steak of seven that ran from June 29-Aug. 22, Myers has gone 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his past five starts. An ERA that was at 5.03 as late as June 16 is down to 4.31.

“Hard times?” Myers said. “Shoot, I’ve been through worse than this. Once you go through it once, you know how to handle it a second time. Hopefully it doesn’t happen too often.”

Astros manager Brad Mills said it was a matter of Myers taking self-inventory and deciding, “This isn’t me.” The tortured season will not be for naught if the Astros of the future bear any resemblance to the team that had its merry way with the Rockies on Friday.